Hello,
Sulphur! What's it good for? Absolutely noth - no, my bad there, it is good
for keeping strange ferments and oxygen out of a wine. So I am told.
Lately, I have started to believe that I am inordinately sensitive to
sulphur smells, having had several glasses of precious old wine ruined by an
insistent smell of brimstone and burning car tyres ... not ... nice ...
Yesterday, in the more or less self-styled nerd wine tasting group (the
oenonecrophiliacs) among 6 wines, two of which were very good, one tottering
on the brink of death, and one oddly shaped thingum from 1990, two glasses,
from the same maker, and as like as unto two berries (well, SIMILAR berries)
had a high smell of sulphur. Others in the group detected various delicate
and fragrant delights therein, while I smelt the fires of the nether world,
woe is me, and got started on thinking about sulphur.
Hugh Johnson is quoed as saying that the "mineral" of Chablis is, in fact,
in reality an effect of sulphur. I do believe that peopel hereabout have
complained that late 90s white burgs oxydize easily, whih I have noticed
myself - wines of Bouchard P&F comes to mind, as well as the Ladoix Serrigny
of Domaine Launay. It was argumented that this might be due to lesser gifts
of sulphur in the wines these days.
Anybody with a comment?

Cheers

Nils

--
Respond to nils dot lindgren at drchips dot se

On Apr 19, 1:12 pm, "Nils Gustaf Lindgren"
> wrote:
> Hello,
> Sulphur! What's it good for? Absolutely noth - no, my bad there, it is good
> for keeping strange ferments and oxygen out of a wine. So I am told.
> Lately, I have started to believe that I am inordinately sensitive to
> sulphur smells, having had several glasses of precious old wine ruined by an
> insistent smell of brimstone and burning car tyres ... not ... nice ...
> Yesterday, in the more or less self-styled nerd wine tasting group (the
> oenonecrophiliacs) among 6 wines, two of which were very good, one tottering
> on the brink of death, and one oddly shaped thingum from 1990, two glasses,
> from the same maker, and as like as unto two berries (well, SIMILAR berries)
> had a high smell of sulphur. Others in the group detected various delicate
> and fragrant delights therein, while I smelt the fires of the nether world,
> woe is me, and got started on thinking about sulphur.
> Hugh Johnson is quoed as saying that the "mineral" of Chablis is, in fact,
> in reality an effect of sulphur. I do believe that peopel hereabout have
> complained that late 90s white burgs oxydize easily, whih I have noticed
> myself - wines of Bouchard P&F comes to mind, as well as the Ladoix Serrigny
> of Domaine Launay. It was argumented that this might be due to lesser gifts
> of sulphur in the wines these days.
> Anybody with a comment?
>
> Cheers
>
> Nils
>
> --
> Respond to nils dot lindgren at drchips dot se

I think you need to distinguish between different sulfur compounds.
I'm not sure if I've ever smelled brimstone myself but if you're
talking about the sulfurous smell found in volcanic areas, you're
likely talking about hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The smell of H2S is also
often compared to rotten eggs. The presence of H2S is a winemaking
fault, generally thought to result from yeast being deprived of
adequate oxygen or nitrogen during primary fermentation. That kind of
fault is often referred to as "reductive", meaning oxygen is not
involved. "Burning tires" suggests the presence of mercaptans,
another reductive fault that sometimes develops when an H2S problem is
left uncorrected by the winemaker.

Neither of those sulfur compounds have anything to do with sulfur
dioxide (SO2), the chemical used by winemakers to suppress microbial
growth during winemaking and to extend shelf life by scavenging oxygen
from the bottle. And excess of SO2 smells like a struck match. My
own experience with German wines is scant, but by reputation, they are
by far the most likely to overuse SO2. In any event, as a problem,
excess SO2 doesn't amount to much since exposure to air generally
causes it to "blow off" in short order.

Bottom line, it sounds like what you're detecting is not the over
zealous use of "sulfur" for the purposed of oxidation prevention but
rather simply bad winemaking.

Mark W.

On Apr 19, 3:12 pm, "Nils Gustaf Lindgren"
> wrote:
> Hello,
> Sulphur! What's it good for? Absolutely noth - no, my bad there, it is good
> for keeping strange ferments and oxygen out of a wine. So I am told.
> Lately, I have started to believe that I am inordinately sensitive to
> sulphur smells, having had several glasses of precious old wine ruined by an
> insistent smell of brimstone and burning car tyres ... not ... nice ...
> Yesterday, in the more or less self-styled nerd wine tasting group (the
> oenonecrophiliacs) among 6 wines, two of which were very good, one tottering
> on the brink of death, and one oddly shaped thingum from 1990, two glasses,
> from the same maker, and as like as unto two berries (well, SIMILAR berries)
> had a high smell of sulphur. Others in the group detected various delicate
> and fragrant delights therein, while I smelt the fires of the nether world,
> woe is me, and got started on thinking about sulphur.
> Hugh Johnson is quoed as saying that the "mineral" of Chablis is, in fact,
> in reality an effect of sulphur. I do believe that peopel hereabout have
> complained that late 90s white burgs oxydize easily, whih I have noticed
> myself - wines of Bouchard P&F comes to mind, as well as the Ladoix Serrigny
> of Domaine Launay. It was argumented that this might be due to lesser gifts
> of sulphur in the wines these days.
> Anybody with a comment?
>
> Cheers
>
> Nils
>
> --
> Respond to nils dot lindgren at drchips dot se

I think markw has well explained off-smells that are produced by some
compounds containing sulfur. Clive Coates had a recent article in
Decanter that concerns the problem with some better white Burgundy
wines from the 90s from some producers in some years. Here the problem
is likely caused at least in part by not adding enough SO2 to the
young wines. This may have been in part due to the bias toward SO2 in
many quarters and in part because many people want to taste the finer
white Burgundy wines much too young. At this stage, if there is enough
SO2 to protect the wine for proper long aging, then it often will be
noticed. If one cellars the wine until it is ready, the SO2 disappears
with time, and the wine is protected from oxidation if the right
amount of SO2 is used.

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